6.1.1

Fundamental Units

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Fundamental Units

Fundamental (or SI base) units are the standard units used to describe physical quantities in physics. They are:

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Metre (m)

  • The SI unit for distance (length).
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Kilogram (kg)

  • The SI unit for mass.
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Second (s)

  • The SI unit for time.
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Ampere (A)

  • The SI unit for electric current.
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Kelvin (K)

  • The SI unit for temperature.
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Mole (mol)

  • The SI unit for chemical mass.
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Candela (cd)

  • The SI unit for luminous intensity.

Combining SI Units

SI base units can be combined to form lots of other useful SI units:

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Hertz (Hz)

  • The SI unit for frequency.
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Newton (N)

  • The SI unit for force.
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Joule (J)

  • The SI unit for energy.
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Watt (W)

  • The SI unit for power.
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Pascal (Pa)

  • The SI unit for pressure.
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Coulomb (C)

  • The SI unit for electric charge.
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Volt (V)

  • The SI unit for electric potential difference.
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Ohm (Ω.)

  • The SI unit for electrical resistance.
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Tesla (T)

  • The SI unit for magnetic flux density.

Celsius (°C)

  • Degrees Celsius are derived from the base SI unit for temperature (Kelvin).
  • To convert between Kelvin and °C use the following equation:
    • °C = K - 273.

Jump to other topics

1Space, Time & Motion

2The Particulate Nature of Matter

3Wave Behaviour

4Fields

4.1Circular Motion

4.2Newton's Law of Gravitation

4.3Fields

4.4Fields at Work

4.5Electric Fields

4.6Magnetic Effect of Electric Currents

4.7Heating Effect of Currents

4.8Electromagnetic Induction

4.9Power Generation & Transmission

4.10Capacitance

5Nuclear & Quantum Physics

6Measurements

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